“Upwards of a century,” says he, “must elapse, and still the bleeding fight of Freedom be fought, whoso is noblest perishing in the van, and thrones be hurled3 on altars like Pelion on Ossa, and the Moloch of Iniquity4 have his victims, and the Michael of Justice his martyrs6, before Tailors can be admitted to their true prerogatives7 of manhood, and this last wound of suffering Humanity be closed.
“If aught in the history of the world’s blindness could surprise us, here might we indeed pause and wonder. An idea has gone abroad, and fixed8 itself down into a wide-spreading rooted error, that Tailors are a distinct species in Physiology9, not Men, but fractional Parts of a Man. Call any one a Schneider (Cutter, Tailor), is it not, in our dislocated, hoodwinked, and indeed delirious10 condition of Society, equivalent to defying his perpetual fellest enmity? The epithet11 schneidermassig (tailor-like) betokens12 an otherwise unapproachable degree of pusillanimity13; we introduce a Tailor’s-Melancholy, more opprobrious14 than any Leprosy, into our Books of Medicine; and fable15 I know not what of his generating it by living on Cabbage. Why should I speak of Hans Sachs (himself a Shoemaker, or kind of Leather–Tailor), with his Schneider mit dem Panier? Why of Shakspeare, in his Taming of the Shrew, and elsewhere? Does it not stand on record that the English Queen Elizabeth, receiving a deputation of Eighteen Tailors, addressed them with a ‘Good morning, gentlemen both!’ Did not the same virago16 boast that she had a Cavalry17 Regiment18, whereof neither horse nor man could be injured; her Regiment, namely, of Tailors on Mares? Thus everywhere is the falsehood taken for granted, and acted on as an indisputable fact.
“Nevertheless, need I put the question to any Physiologist19, whether it is disputable or not? Seems it not at least presumable, that, under his Clothes, the Tailor has bones and viscera, and other muscles than the sartorius? Which function of manhood is the Tailor not conjectured20 to perform? Can he not arrest for debt? Is he not in most countries a taxpaying animal?
“To no reader of this Volume can it be doubtful which conviction is mine. Nay21 if the fruit of these long vigils, and almost preternatural Inquiries22, is not to perish utterly23, the world will have approximated towards a higher Truth; and the doctrine24, which Swift, with the keen forecast of genius, dimly anticipated, will stand revealed in clear light: that the Tailor is not only a Man, but something of a Creator or Divinity. Of Franklin it was said, that ‘he snatched the Thunder from Heaven and the Sceptre from Kings:’ but which is greater, I would ask, he that lends, or he that snatches? For, looking away from individual cases, and how a Man is by the Tailor new-created into a Nobleman, and clothed not only with Wool but with Dignity and a Mystic Dominion25, — is not the fair fabric26 of Society itself, with all its royal mantles27 and pontifical28 stoles, whereby, from nakedness and dismemberment, we are organized into Polities, into nations, and a whole co-operating Mankind, the creation, as has here been often irrefragably evinced, of the Tailor alone? — What too are all Poets and moral Teachers, but a species of Metaphorical29 Tailors? Touching30 which high Guild31 the greatest living Guild-brother has triumphantly32 asked us: ‘Nay if thou wilt33 have it, who but the Poet first made Gods for men; brought them down to us; and raised us up to them?’
“And this is he, whom sitting downcast, on the hard basis of his Shopboard, the world treats with contumely, as the ninth part of a man! Look up, thou much-injured one, look up with the kindling34 eye of hope, and prophetic bodings of a noble better time. Too long hast thou sat there, on crossed legs, wearing thy ankle-joints to horn; like some sacred Anchorite, or Catholic Fakir, doing penance35, drawing down Heaven’s richest blessings36, for a world that scoffed37 at thee. Be of hope! Already streaks38 of blue peer through our clouds; the thick gloom of Ignorance is rolling asunder39, and it will be Day. Mankind will repay with interest their long-accumulated debt: the Anchorite that was scoffed at will be worshipped; the Fraction will become not an Integer only, but a Square and Cube. With astonishment40 the world will recognize that the Tailor is its Hierophant and Hierarch, or even its God.
“As I stood in the Mosque41 of St. Sophia, and looked upon these Four-and-Twenty Tailors, sewing and embroidering42 that rich Cloth, which the Sultan sends yearly for the Caaba of Mecca, I thought within myself: How many other Unholies has your covering Art made holy, besides this Arabian Whinstone!
“Still more touching was it when, turning the corner of a lane, in the Scottish Town of Edinburgh, I came upon a Signpost, whereon stood written that such and such a one was ‘Breeches–Maker to his Majesty;’ and stood painted the Effigies43 of a Pair of Leather Breeches, and between the knees these memorable44 words, SIC ITUR AD ASTRA. Was not this the martyr5 prison-speech of a Tailor sighing indeed in bonds, yet sighing towards deliverance, and prophetically appealing to a better day? A day of justice, when the worth of Breeches would be revealed to man, and the Scissors become forever venerable.
“Neither, perhaps, may I now say, has his appeal been altogether in vain. It was in this high moment, when the soul, rent, as it were, and shed asunder, is open to inspiring influence, that I first conceived this Work on Clothes: the greatest I can ever hope to do; which has already, after long retardations, occupied, and will yet occupy, so large a section of my Life; and of which the Primary and simpler Portion may here find its conclusion.”
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1 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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2 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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3 hurled | |
v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 );大声叫骂 | |
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4 iniquity | |
n.邪恶;不公正 | |
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5 martyr | |
n.烈士,殉难者;vt.杀害,折磨,牺牲 | |
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6 martyrs | |
n.martyr的复数形式;烈士( martyr的名词复数 );殉道者;殉教者;乞怜者(向人诉苦以博取同情) | |
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7 prerogatives | |
n.权利( prerogative的名词复数 );特权;大主教法庭;总督委任组成的法庭 | |
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8 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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9 physiology | |
n.生理学,生理机能 | |
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10 delirious | |
adj.不省人事的,神智昏迷的 | |
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11 epithet | |
n.(用于褒贬人物等的)表述形容词,修饰语 | |
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12 betokens | |
v.预示,表示( betoken的第三人称单数 ) | |
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13 pusillanimity | |
n.无气力,胆怯 | |
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14 opprobrious | |
adj.可耻的,辱骂的 | |
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15 fable | |
n.寓言;童话;神话 | |
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16 virago | |
n.悍妇 | |
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17 cavalry | |
n.骑兵;轻装甲部队 | |
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18 regiment | |
n.团,多数,管理;v.组织,编成团,统制 | |
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19 physiologist | |
n.生理学家 | |
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20 conjectured | |
推测,猜测,猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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21 nay | |
adv.不;n.反对票,投反对票者 | |
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22 inquiries | |
n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 );疑问;探究;打听 | |
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23 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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24 doctrine | |
n.教义;主义;学说 | |
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25 dominion | |
n.统治,管辖,支配权;领土,版图 | |
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26 fabric | |
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织 | |
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27 mantles | |
vt.&vi.覆盖(mantle的第三人称单数形式) | |
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28 pontifical | |
adj.自以为是的,武断的 | |
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29 metaphorical | |
a.隐喻的,比喻的 | |
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30 touching | |
adj.动人的,使人感伤的 | |
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31 guild | |
n.行会,同业公会,协会 | |
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32 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
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33 wilt | |
v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎;(指人)疲倦,衰弱 | |
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34 kindling | |
n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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35 penance | |
n.(赎罪的)惩罪 | |
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36 blessings | |
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福 | |
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37 scoffed | |
嘲笑,嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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38 streaks | |
n.(与周围有所不同的)条纹( streak的名词复数 );(通常指不好的)特征(倾向);(不断经历成功或失败的)一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 );使布满条纹 | |
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39 asunder | |
adj.分离的,化为碎片 | |
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40 astonishment | |
n.惊奇,惊异 | |
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41 mosque | |
n.清真寺 | |
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42 embroidering | |
v.(在织物上)绣花( embroider的现在分词 );刺绣;对…加以渲染(或修饰);给…添枝加叶 | |
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43 effigies | |
n.(人的)雕像,模拟像,肖像( effigy的名词复数 ) | |
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44 memorable | |
adj.值得回忆的,难忘的,特别的,显著的 | |
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